Drop link tightening
 

Hi,

I think I have asked this before, but my car has just had an MOT advisery for worn anti-roll bar link bushes on my reasonably new links, and I am again wondering if I am over-tightening them?

Do you just tighten till the "discs" touch the rubber? So, very lightly?

Thanks

I'd say if the discs are only lightly touching the rubber then it's not tight enough. I've always tightened them until the rubber is just beginning to squash a bit. Imagine squeezing your finger - just before you say "ouch" :)

There's not a lot of movement there - mostly just up and down, so tight isn't going to be putting a lot of pressure on anything.

Clifford Pope's method is how I do it too. Your problem is perhaps that the quality of the new bushes is poor. Even Volvo ones. For droplink bushes you could spend a bit more and get poly ones. SuperPro are good -- not too hard. When I had a Mazda Bongo I had to change the front droplinks every six months or so because the aftermarket ones were all so bad and didn't hold up on Norfolk's rutted and potholed lanes.

Yeah, maybe that's an idea. Thanks.

I've just looked up what a 240 droplink looks like and it is the same as a 940 one but a different length, the bushes appear the same though. For a 940 the top and bottom washer need to be 42mm apart, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the same setting for a 240. So the domed part of the washers need a gap of 42mm not the edges.

That's great info, thanks!

I'm also thinking, maybe, it is also a problem that my car is slightly lowered, as the bar ends constantly sit at an angle? Could that cause premature wear?

Thanks
Henrik

Could be. I'd have thought that ideally the end of the bar should be at 90 degrees to the link - I think that's the general principle with all linkages and crank arrangements?

Perhaps lowered suspension should use shorter links, to retain the geometry?